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Love Between Two Worlds - Chapter 60

   Chapter 60 — The First Memory "I remember you." Amelia couldn't move. The voice was hers — not similar, not distorted, not some echo carrying her tone. Her own voice, speaking from somewhere so close she felt the words against the shell of her ear. Then the darkness shifted, and she opened her eyes standing alone. No grave, no staircase, no First King, no Alaric. No Adrian. Only darkness stretching in every direction. "Adrian?" Her voice vanished into the black. "Adrian!" Nothing. Panic rose sharp in her chest as she turned, searching for anything familiar. Then a small golden light appeared in the distance, and a child stood inside it. Amelia recognized her instantly. The first version of herself — the little girl beneath the three moons. But this time, she wasn't smiling. "You're late," the child said. "Where's Adrian?" "He's remembering." "Remembering what?" "The part he wasn't allo...
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Love Between Two Worlds - Chapter 49

  

Chapter 49 — The Man in the Darkness

Every star went dark.

For one terrible moment there was nothing — no light, no sound, no worlds. Only Amelia and Adrian standing at the center of the ruined chamber.

Then a single star appeared above him. Silver. It pulsed once.

Thump.

The second heartbeat answered.

Thump.

Adrian dropped to one knee.

"Adrian!" Amelia ran toward him, but the First King stepped in her way.

"Don't touch him."

"Move."

"He's changing."

"I know."

"You don't understand what that means."

She shoved past him. "I don't care."

She reached Adrian's side. His head hung low, silver hair falling across his face, dark wings stretching behind him wider now, disappearing into the darkness beyond the chamber.

"Adrian?"

His fingers moved. He looked up slowly — his eyes silver, but still his.

"Amelia."

She dropped beside him. "I'm here."

"I know." His voice shook. "But you shouldn't be."

"Why?"

He looked down at his own hands. "Because I can feel it."

"The creature?"

He nodded. "It's inside me."

The First King raised his sword. "Then kill him."

Amelia spun around. "What?"

"Before it takes him completely."

"No."

"You don't have time."

"I said no."

He stepped closer. "You've seen what happens when it finishes."

"I've seen what happens when people decide someone's fate for them." Her voice hardened. "I'm not doing that."

The older Adrian grabbed the King's arm. "She's right."

"You know what comes next," the King said.

"I do."

"Then you know what must be done."

The older man's eyes moved to his younger self. "I know what I did."

Silence.

"What did you do?" the younger Adrian asked.

He couldn't answer. Amelia stood. "Tell him."

The older Adrian closed his eyes. "In my world, the creature entered him the same way." Adrian's expression shifted. "And you killed me."

"No." He met his younger self's eyes. "You killed yourself. You thought you were saving her — that severing the bond was the only way to stop it."

Cold moved through Amelia. "And did it work?"

He shook his head. "No. It only taught the creature what love was."

Cael stared. "That's why it wants them together."

The First King nodded. "It learned that love creates choices."

"And choices create power," Eleanor whispered.

The creature spoke through Adrian.

"Not power."

Everyone froze.

"Freedom."

His body jerked. Amelia grabbed his hand.

"Adrian!"

His fingers closed around hers, and the darkness stopped moving instantly. The wings folded. The black veins under his skin faded.

"It responds to her," Cael whispered.

"No," Seraphine said, looking at their joined hands. "It responds to the choice between them."

"Choose," the creature said again.

"No," Amelia said.

"Choose him." The darkness around Adrian brightened. "Or lose him."

She looked into his eyes. He was fighting it — she could see that much.

"Don't listen."

"I'm trying."

"Stay with me."

"I am."

The creature pushed harder. Adrian screamed, a wave of darkness exploding out of him and throwing her backward.

"Amelia!" He tried to reach for her, wings spreading violently — then the darkness swallowed his face.

"Adrian!"

His body went still. The silver left his eyes.

Black replaced it.

The older Adrian stepped forward. "No."

The creature lifted Adrian's head. "This time, you will choose correctly."

The older man froze. "You."

"You remember me." It smiled through the younger face. "I remember everything."

His hand tightened on his weapon. "You killed her."

"No." It tilted Adrian's head. "You did."

The older man stopped breathing.

Amelia stood slowly. "What is it talking about?"

He didn't look at her. "In my world... I killed Amelia."

Her blood ran cold. "You said she survived."

"I lied."

The black eyes turned toward him. "You killed her to save the worlds."

"No."

"You chose the worlds."

His weapon fell from his hand. "And I was wrong."

"What happened to her?" Amelia asked.

He finally met her eyes. "I couldn't bring her back."

Then the younger Adrian spoke, straining against the dark. "You're lying."

Everyone turned.

"She didn't die."

"What?" the older man said.

"I can see her." His eyes flashed silver for a moment. "The other Amelia. She's alive."

The creature roared, and the chamber tore apart.

"The Veil!" Cael screamed.

A massive crack split open behind Adrian, and through it Amelia saw another world — a ruined city under a black sky, towers burning, and a woman standing in the middle of it.

Amelia. Older. Scarred. Wearing a broken Crown.

She looked directly through the crack, straight into Amelia's eyes, and raised one hand. The same black symbol marked her palm. She mouthed four words Amelia couldn't hear but understood anyway.

Don't trust Adrian.

Amelia froze.

"No," the older Adrian whispered.

The creature laughed, and the younger Adrian screamed. "Don't believe her!"

"Why?" Amelia turned to him, and his silver eyes were full of terror.

"Because that's not Amelia."

The woman through the crack smiled — her skin darkening, her eyes turning entirely black, something vast unfolding into wings behind her.

Amelia stepped back.

"Now you understand," the creature said through Adrian once more.

The false Amelia stepped through the crack. "I don't need to possess him." Her eyes found Amelia's. "I only need you to choose him."

The crack sealed shut behind her, and for the first time Amelia understood — the creature had never been trying to take Adrian.

It had been trying to make her trust the wrong version of him.

The woman smiled, and whispered:

"Hello, Amelia."

And Adrian's hand slipped from hers.

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